This proposal outlines a comprehensive planning process for the design and implementation of a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program at the University of Kentucky (UK). The plan will align UK's ongoing restructuring of its clinical and translational research enterprise with the goals and objectives of the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Roadmap CTSA initiative to improve the quality and accelerate the pace of the University's clinical and translational discovery. As such, the goals of UK's CTSA Program are: ? 1. The establishment of the UK Center for Clinical and Translational Science (the UK Center) which will serve as the """"""""academic home"""""""" for the distinct discipline of clinical and translational research. The UK CTSA Program will include dedicated faculty and staff who will conduct original research, develop graduate and postgraduate training curricula, and lead programs that integrate clinical and translational science across multiple UK departments, colleges, institutes and centers, and hospitals. ? 2. The aggregation and integration of the essential infrastructure and core services required for the efficient and ethical conduct of first-rate clinical and translational research by investigators in the UK Center. The co-localization of these key resources in the UK Center will lead to natural synergies of existing resources and talent, thereby furthering the Center's overall function. ? 3. The development of integrated training mechanisms required for the adequate preparation of future generations of clinical and translational scientists at multiple levels of career development. The specific objectives of the planning process for the UK Center include: (1) Identifying clinical and translational science communities served; (2) Cataloging existing mechanisms for the conduct of and training in clinical and translational research; (3) Identifying strengths and weaknesses of each existing mechanisms;(4) Identifying new programs to meet the aforementioned goals of the UK Center; (5) Developing the UK Center's content, governance, administration, and evaluation; and (6) Managing the institutional and cultural changes as a bonafide UK Center for Clinical and Translational Research is established. ? ? The CTSA planning process will expand and extend the planning process begun at UK in 2004 when were cognized that, consistent with the NIH Roadmap, a new and quantitatively different structure was needed for the governance, support and facilitation of clinical and translational research. UK is now well along in the transformation of its clinical and translational research activities into a new and distinct discipline of clinical and translational science. The planning process described in this application will complete this transformation and will, thereby, change for the better the University's entire discovery mission. ? ? ?
| Fahy, Brenda G; Balke, C William; Umberger, Gloria H et al. (2011) Crossing the chasm: information technology to biomedical informatics. J Investig Med 59:768-79 |
